Background: Immigration is a critical issue for farmworkers. The majority of farmworkers are undocumented, with estimates ranging from 53% to 75% of the workforce. Without legal status, most farmworkers are too fearful of deportation to challenge unfair treatment. Intensified immigration enforcement efforts have driven undocumented workers further underground, leaving them even more vulnerable to exploitation. Read more...

NUMBERS: Opponents of a more robust H-1B program declare that immigrant workers, particularly high skill workers, displace U.S. workers and drive down the wages of those workers. In many areas of the country, however, businesses are encountering something quite different: that there simply are not enough qualified, high skill U.S. workers to fill the needs of U.S. employers. High skill foreign professionals are therefore essential in filling these needs and complementing the native born workforce.Read more...

Proposals in Congress adversely target immigrants' retirement security in ways that would require the Social Security Administration (SSA) to alter the current retirement benefits framework by significantly changing the way work history is credited to individuals.